title: Acute and chronic effects of a diuretic monotherapy with piretanide in congestive heart failure--a placebo-controlled trial.
abstract: To evaluate the acute and chronic effects of diuretic monotherapy with 3 mg piretanide bid, 46 patients (pts) with congestive heart failure (NYHA II-III) secondary to coronary artery disease were studied. Within 3 weeks of therapy, the patients lost 1.6 kg body weight. Forty-four patients reported a subjective feeling of improvement. Echocardiographically, a highly significant (p less than 0.001) reduction of diastolic and systolic diameters was found, as well as an increase of fraction shortening. Chest x-ray indicated a reduction of heart volume from 1012 +/- 263 ml to 936 +/- 233 ml (p less than 0.001). The serum potassium level remained unchanged. A subgroup of 26 pts underwent invasive hemodynamic examinations. IV injection of 6 mg piretanide resulted in an acute reduction of pulmonary wedge pressure (pc) from 20.2 +/- 5.3 mmHg to 11.9 +/- 5.0 mmHg (p less than 0.001); simultaneously a slight decrease of cardiac index from 3.2 +/- 0.6 l/min/m2 to 3.0 +/- 0.4 l/min/m2 was observed. Invasive control after 3 weeks of oral therapy showed no decline of the piretanide effect. The exercise tolerance increased clearly from 135 +/- 161 Wmin to 249 +/- 268 Wmin (p less than 0.05). A control group of further 14 pts was treated with placebo only and did not show any significant changes of pc (20.0 +/- 6.4 mmHg vs. 22.8 +/- 19.2 mmHg), exercise tolerance, or other clinical parameters. Thus, the diuretic monotherapy of congestive heart failure with piretanide is highly effective and shows a significant improvement in all clinical and hemodynamic parameters in the absence of any remarkable side effects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, University of Ulm, FRG.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Haerer
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sultan
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cernoch
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mouselimis
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Fehske
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hetzel
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stauch
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Hombach
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002407:Catheterization, Swan-Ganz; D004232:Diuretics / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000187:drug effects; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011859:Radiography; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D013449:Sulfonamides / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D004232:Diuretics; D013449:Sulfonamides; C015451:piretanide